Series 84925

Parowan (Utah) Ordinances

Historical Note

Scope and Content

These ordinances document the legislative functions of the Parowan city council and comprise the municipal code by which the city's officials and inhabitants conducted their daily business. Parowan's original 1851 charter authorized the city council to "make,... and execute all such ordinances,... as they may deem necessary for the peace, benefit, good order, regulation, convenience, and cleanliness of said City, - for the protection of property therein, from destruction by fire or otherwise; and for the health and happiness thereof" (Laws and Ordinances of the State of Deseret, 1850-1851). Both the city's reincorporation in 1868, and their designation as a third class city (at least by 1888) reinforced this mandate. The ordinances primarily concern maintaining law and order; guarding public health; administering water use and development; creating and maintaining public improvements; licensing, taxing, and regulating businesses, trades, and professions; regulating commodities and dangerous substances; abating nuisances; controlling domestic animals; conducting elections; creating municipal offices and departments; appointing public officials; setting salaries; and controlling city finances. Soon after 1900, the ordinances reflect the city's accommodation to modern technological improvements. The twentieth century ordinances frequently relate to the construction and operation of city-owned electric power plants and other public utilities such as water, and sewer systems (including setting rates and collecting payments); the issuance of bonds for public development projects; the granting of franchise to private utility companies (such as for telephone and gas); and providing for and regulating automobile traffic.

Arrangement

These ordinances are primarily arranged in chronological order by year, month, and day as passed by the council. The first four ordinance volumes on reel 1 are permanently bound record books. The record book format preserves the original chronological order of the records quite well. Beginning with the last volume on reel 1, however, ordinances were typed on separate sheets of paper and collected into three-ring binders. The binder format lends itself easily to disorder and ordinances after this point on the film can follow a variety of arrangements at various points, including topical and reverse chronological, though the overall arrangement is still predominantly chronological. Occasionally a topical arrangement will interrupt the normal chronological sequence where copies of revised ordinances were inserted after a previous version, or vise-versa. Such topical interpositions occur predominantly in the last volume of reel 1. The last two volumes on reel 1 contain a considerable overlap for the period 1945, March-Feb 1964. The contents of each volume for this period are essentially the same, though there are a few ordinances in each which are absent in the other. In several places, a brief chronological span of ordinances was filmed out of sequence with the rest of the ordinances for that period and volume. Though the ordinances in the last volume on reel 1 proceed predominantly in normal chronological order by year, month, and day, occasionally ordinances for a particular year will appear in reverse chronological order by month and day. The binder marked "Ordinances for 1994-1999" on reel 2 actually begins July 1984 and overlaps with the untitled binder for 1982, Feb-Sept 1984 but contains no duplicate ordinances.

Related Records

Revised ordinances from Parowan (Utah), Series 23625, contain the revised and published ordinances for Parowan.

City Council minutes from Parowan (Utah), Series 85019, contain the minutes of the Parowan city council meetings.

Access Restrictions

This series is classified as Public.

Preferred Citation

Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.

Gaps in Series

No ordinances between 1919 and 1945 exist in this series. See REVISED ORDINANCES, 1920; 1931; 1943, series 23625, for ordinances during this period. Ordinances for 1902, 1978 and 1979 are also missing.

Processing Note

Parowan City ordinances were microfilmed at Southern Utah University under the direction of the Utah State Archives in November 2001 and processed in October 2002 by Michael A. Church. One previous microfilm reel of Parowan city ordinances was deaccessioned during processing.

Finding Aids

Indexes: A subject index arranged alphabetically by first letter of subject entry begins the second-to-last volume on reel 1 (1945-1964). The last volume on reel 1 includes a contents list arranged by ordinance number and a subject index arranged alphabetically, covering from 1945 thru 1976.